Footsteps of WWII · Poland
Westerplatte, Gdańsk
Battlefield · 1–7 Sep 1939
The story
At about 04:45 on 1 September 1939 the old German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, moored in Danzig harbour, opened fire on the Polish Military Transit Depot on the Westerplatte peninsula. Major Henryk Sucharski and his deputy, Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski, held the depot with a garrison of roughly 200 men in guardhouses and a concrete barracks. The first assault by marines from the ship failed, and the Poles held out for a week against naval gunfire, artillery and air raids. A white flag went up at 09:45 on 7 September. Fifteen defenders were killed. Westerplatte's long defence became the founding symbol of Polish resistance.
What to look for
A wooded peninsula at the harbour mouth. Walk past the ruined barracks and surviving guardhouses to the tall Monument of the Coast Defenders (1966) on its mound. The old depot power station is now a Visitor Centre with an exhibition on recent archaeological finds.
Plan your visit
Grounds are open. The Visitor Centre opened in 2025; it was opening 09:00–16:00 in October. The site is being developed into an open-air museum by the Museum of the Second World War, so expect works. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Museum of the Second World War, Gdańsk · 6 km
- Polish Post Office, Gdańsk · 6 km
- Stutthof Museum, Sztutowo · 33 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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